American Express said today that it is actively poaching talent from other innovation companies, particularly in New York.
Dan Schulman, Group President, Enterprise Growth, at American Express Co., said the poaching effort is active and ongoing. Schulman made the disclosure today at a Wall Street conference presented by Keefe, Bruyette and Woods.
Schulman said that American Express’s Hudson Street office is stocked with ex-Google and ex-startup programmers. He said he walked through the office recently with a colleague and the colleague said, “Lots of tattoos here.”
“There is,” Schulman responded.
“We are trying to develop a whole different way of thinking in the company,” he said.
As someone who has been involved on the technology side of things, but new to the financial industry, I would respectfully disagree with you. This is the time for start ups because what’s needed is a fundamental change in the way the financial industry do business.
Look at the travel industry–which has been turned upside down by the web and technology, who goes to a travel agent anymore? We all go to expedia.com or travelocity and we’re getting better deals than we ever were before.
A rather simple example, but a lot of this crisis has to do with a lack of transparency and accountability among lenders, and ignorance on the part of borrowers. Big business are not willing to take a leap of faith to try to change the status quo to prevent falling into the bad situation we currently find ourselves in–however, those of us working for said startups are doing it, and while the risk is high–the reward (hopefully) will be much greater.
Maybe because it’s all so new to me, I’m a little too optimistic for my own good. But I look forward to seeing how this all plays out. See you at Finovate!